Twenty-two Cape Town residents and two Hawks officers were murdered, allegedly by three cash-in-transit robbers, suspects who were inexplicably out on the streets despite being arrested.
TimesLIVE Investigations’ inquiries into the murders of Hawks warrant officers, Wynand Herbst and Delene Grobler-Koonin, shot dead in a foiled heist in Mahikeng, North West, in March 2020, has now sparked an urgent investigation by the correctional services department. It is looking into exactly how their alleged killer, Solomon Phahlane Ngubeni, came to be paroled in 2014 instead of 2027.
Ngubeni was meant to be serving a 21-year prison sentence in Rooigrond medium security prison for illegal possession of machine guns after his arrest on Gauteng’s East Rand when he was paroled.
TimesLIVE Investigations has revealed inconsistencies around the prosecution and detention of cash-in-transit heist suspects. This is leading to some of the country’s most dangerous criminals being released back into society when they are supposed to be behind bars.
An analysis of the SAPS crime administration system database, criminal suspects’ profiles and prison records show how two of the Western Cape’s most notorious criminals, Yanga “Bara” Endrey Nyalara and Ayanda “Stix” Yisaka, both rearrested last month for separate mass killings on the Cape Flats, were supposed to have been behind bars awaiting trial since 2019 for cash-in-transit heists. The pair were denied bail after their first arrests.
On average, bail is denied in only about 30% of cash-in-transit cases, but even then, several suspects who had initially been denied bail manage to secure it later.
The bail cases of Nyalara, the Western Cape’s most wanted criminal at the time of his arrest, and Yisaka are two such matters.
They were arrested in July and June respectively by the Western Cape provincial extortion task team after investigations into mass shootings, which according to Western Cape provincial community safety ministry spokesperson Marcellino Martin left 29 people murdered since March in Khayelitsha alone.
Nyalara allegedly ruled with terror over Khayelitsha, where the police alleged he killed 18 people and tried to kill five more.
Police had Nyalara firmly in their grasp and behind bars, until he was released on bail for a September 2018 cash-in-transit heist in Libode, near Mthatha, Eastern Cape.
Nyalara was arrested in connection with the heist in March 2019 and faces charges of attempted murder, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, possession of fully automatic firearms and ammunition, and the blowing up of a cash-in-transit van with two security guards inside. He was denied bail, but 11 months later, he brought an application with “new facts” and was released on bail by the Libode magistrate's court.
A note in the police’s crime administration system, seen by TimesLIVE Investigations, suggests the prosecutor in the case did not make the investigating officer aware Nyalara and his co-accused had brought a new bail application.
Eastern Cape NPA spokesperson Luxolo Tyali confirmed the state initially successfully opposed bail but that a warrant officer brought “new facts”, securing his release 11 months later.
“In the affidavit, W/O [Lubabalo] Wophula stated he no longer opposed bail and the accused were granted R20,000 bail each with conditions,” Tyali said. “On the strength of the affidavit by a police officer who stated he had been part of the investigating team, the prosecutor did not oppose the new application.”
While cash companies do not declare how much is stolen in heists, calculations by TimesLIVE Investigations shows at least R530m was stolen between 2017 and July 2022, with only R34m reported as being recovered, according to the datasets.
Dr Alice Maree of the Cash-In-Transit Association of SA said the cash recovery percentage from heists was just 2%.
“The recovery of cash does not occur frequently. It is very difficult to follow where the money goes.”
Wahl Bartmann, Fidelity Services Group CEO, said while in the majority of cases Fidelity and law enforcement investigated, money was recovered, “it is never more than 0.5% of what was stolen”.
— How much gets stolen in cash-in-transit heists?
The “new facts” were that the accused had been in custody “for a long time” and unnecessary delays in the matter were prejudicial to him, said Tyali.
Wophula, who no longer works for the Hawks, confirmed he had deposed the affidavit. Asked why he gave the defence a statement in favour of granting bail to Nyalara and his co-accused when the police initially opposed it, he said he needed time to familiarise himself with the facts around the case before he could answer any further questions.
According to information listed on the police’s criminal administration system, Nyalara’s only bail conditions were that he sign in to the nearest police station.
Tyali could not say what the bail conditions were, as the magistrate failed to note them in the case file.
Nyalara is set to be tried in the Mthatha regional court for the Libode cash-in-transit heist.
Two years after his release on bail in Libode, provincial and national police launched a manhunt for Nyalara, offering a R100,000 reward for information that could lead to his arrest after several shootings in Khayelitsha connected to township extortion.
At the time of his arrest on July 4, Western Cape police spokesperson Col Andrè Traut said: “A wanted suspect who managed to evade his arrest for a long time has finally made his appearance in Cape Town magistrate’s court this morning, where he faced 31 charges.”
After 30-year-old Nyalara’s arrest, police minister Bheki Cele praised the Western Cape police for their investigative work.
“Police have done a good job putting this man, who thought he could live with impunity, behind bars. This arrest will gain us some ground in our efforts to fight crime in the province. We believe the arrest of ‘Bara’ will solve many other cases going forward, especially in the Khayelitsha area that has been torn by scenes of multiple murders,” he said.
Ayanda ‘Stix’ Yisaka
Yisaka, believed to be a leading figure in a gang known by Gugulethu residents as the Boko Haram, was arrested on June 18 for a mass shooting in Gugulethu on June 5, which left four people dead and another five wounded. This while he was out on bail after initially being denied bail.
According to Western Cape Hawks spokesperson Zinzi Hani, Yisaka was at first denied bail in the Eastern Cape when he and his gang of alleged cash-in-transit heist robbers were arrested on November 5 2019. They had surrendered after a deadly shoot-out with the SAPS Special Task Force on the N1 on the Paarl side of the Huguenot Tunnel.
A day earlier, Yisaka and his gang had allegedly ambushed a cash-in-transit van in Bityi, also near Mthatha, Eastern Cape.
However, according to Hani, they were later granted bail after they appealed to a high court in the Eastern Cape.
“The accused in question committed CIT in Bityi and fled to Cape Town, the suspects were intercepted in Paarl, and during the search of the vehicle a large amount of cash was discovered, and the tag belonging to the CIT company which was robbed was found,” said Hani.
“Eight suspects were then arrested and charged for possession of suspected stolen cash and detained in Paarl before any bail proceedings commenced,” she said.
“The Bityi investigators came to collect the eight accused and charged them with cash-in-transit robbery. Their formal bail application was entertained in the Eastern Cape where bail was denied. The accused then appealed to the high court in the Eastern Cape and the high court granted them bail,” she said.
Hani said Yisaka still faces charges on the Paarl matter which is expected to be heard again on October 19.
The NPA’s Tyali said charges against Yisaka, relating to the Bityi cash-in-transit heist, “were provisionally withdrawn for further investigations”. Asked to clarify why the charges were withdrawn, he said it was “due to a lack of evidence”. Charges against his three co-accused, however, have stood and they are soon to be tried. This was confirmed by Hawks spokesperson Lt-Col Philani Nkwalase.
Yisaka’s criminal career allegedly began in 2001 when he was first arrested for murder in Gugulethu. The charge would later be withdrawn. Before the cash-in-transit heist in 2019, he was arrested on 12 other occasions and convicted in a possession of stolen goods case registered at Philippi East police station in 2012. His other arrests were for charges including murder, theft, house robbery, drug possession, attempted murder, possession of an unlicensed firearm and possession of a stolen vehicle.
Aside from the murder charges, Yisaka faces a possession of illegal firearms charge registered at Kraaifontein police station in June, for which he appeared in the Blue Downs magistrate’s court last week Thursday.
Yisaka’s lawyer Andile Dunga declined to respond to questions sent by TimesLIVE Premium.
Solomon Ngubeni
Ngubeni was one of nine cash-in-transit robbers arrested for allegedly murdering the Hawks’ Herbst and Grobler-Koonin during a foiled heist in Mahikeng in March 2020.
Ngubeni and his co-accused, who own extensive business empires, including construction and investment companies and taxis, have committed a litany of crimes since 1995.
Ngubeni’s prison records, which have been seen by TimesLIVE Investigations, contain references to him violating his parole conditions by allegedly taking part in the Mahikeng heist.
During the attempted heist, three of his alleged accomplices, Tefo Motsewakhumo, 27, of Mahikeng, Themba Hlatshwayo, 38, of Katlehong and Tshepo Mokoena, 37, of Orange Farm were shot dead and his remaining accomplices arrested.
At the time of his death, Hlatshwayo, according to his criminal records, should have been in prison serving a 30-year sentence for his conviction in 2000 for a business robbery, illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, attempted murder and assault, which he committed in Vanderbijlpark in 1998. He should only have been paroled at the end of 2020.
One of the heist accused, who should also have been in prison serving lengthy sentences at the time, was alleged bomber Andrew Jabulani Sibisi.
Sibisi’s criminal records and profile show that over the past three decades he has been found guilty on 10 different occasions for crimes which include murder, attempted murder, assault, armed robbery, possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition, theft, vehicle theft, and house and business burglary.
The department is still studying his entire profile to make sense of what may have transpired, thus prompting his parole placement in 2014 instead of 2027.
— Singabakho Nxumalo, correctional services spokesperson
He was sentenced in September 2001 to 25 years, 30 years and 60 years respectively for murder, possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition, and attempted murder in Phuthaditjhaba, Free State in 1999.
In 2001 he was also sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for robbery in Bloemspruit, Free State.
TimesLIVE Premium understands he should only have been eligible for parole in 2021.
Correctional services spokesperson, Singabakho Nxumalo confirmed Ngubeni was paroled on January 24 2014.
“He had to be taken back into custody, as he violated his parole conditions. The department is still studying his entire profile to make sense of what may have transpired, thus prompting his parole placement in 2014 instead of 2027.
“There are prescribed processes in terms of the rehabilitation journey for inmates and parole consideration mechanisms. It is due to this reason that the department has to conduct this investigation urgently so that facts can be established.”
He said Ngubeni was charged and awaiting trial for murder and robbery with aggravating offences.
“He is also serving the remainder of the initial sentence at Rooigrond Correctional Centre as parole placement had to be revoked.”
The stats don’t lie
A data analysis of the case withdrawal rate against heist suspects shows 24% of cash-in-transit robbery cases are withdrawn against suspects in North West, KwaZulu-Natal, and Limpopo. The withdrawal rate in the Free State and Western Cape is 23% and 20% respectively, while in Gauteng 11% of cases are withdrawn and in the Eastern Cape 15%. Mpumalanga had the lowest rate of withdrawals at 4%.
The datasets, which include the SAPS crime administration system and criminal profile records, reveal that since 2017, nearly 1,100 heists have occurred across SA, the majority of which have been successful.
Fewer than 800 suspects have been arrested for the attacks, with 186 killed by police and cash-in-transit guards, according to the data.
In most provinces convictions for arrests made since 2017, according to the data, are 6% or lower. Limpopo had the highest conviction rate of 11%.
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Asked for comment on the number of cash-in-transit robbers successfully convicted since 2017 and how such dangerous suspects had managed to get released on bail, NPA spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga said: “The NPA does not keep the related information on absconded accused.”
On convictions, he said the NPA did not keep information separately on cash-in-transit robberies and included all hijacking convictions.
Police spokesperson colonel Athlenda Mathe declined to comment on how many suspects had been successfully convicted for cash-in-transit robberies since 2017, in what year those who were sentenced from 2017 had committed their crimes or how many suspects have had charges withdrawn against them since 2017.
She said since February police had brought 306 cases to court, arrested 225 people and recovered 107 firearms and 108 high-performance vehicles.
Wits University law expert professor Stephen Tuson said the Criminal Procedure Act required that those charged with serious offences such as robbery with aggravated circumstances, a schedule six offence, had to prove there were exceptional circumstances to justify bail.
“These circumstances could include very poor health requiring urgent medical interventions. Under most circumstances bail being granted to someone charged with a schedule six offence does not happen.”
Dr Hennie Lochner, cash-in-transit and violent crimes research expert, said despite robbery with aggravating circumstances such as cash heists being a schedule six offence, “there is a worrying trend where violent accused are granted bail.
“This is one of the major challenges in the fight against heist gangs.”
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